A Stare from the Abyss

She turned around to see a wrinkled old face underneath a straw hat. On that shriveled face of his, which was doing its best to force a warm smile, there were two massive dark circles underneath his eyes. 

But the distance between her face and his, which was less than an inch, was more than enough to scare her to death. 

Mu Zixi was so frightened that she was unable to even make a sound. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her body stiffened before she fell backward onto the ground like a log. 

Thump.

The old man pulled his hat down and watched her fall to the ground, his face deadpan. 

"Hmph, you've caused enough trouble, rascal. I bet you would've started digging at the walls next if I'd let you keep you doing this." 

He took the books from her hand, dusted them a bit, then put them back on the shelves.